By Mario Toneguzzi

A new app is helping to make it easier for students to find jobs and for companies to reach potential new staff.

Swob Inc., is the Tinder for jobs. It’s a free app designed to make job searching easy and convenient. Through the use of technology, students can now search for a job with the simple use of their phone.

Swob is the first-of-its kind service to target students in high turnover industries such as retail, and food services for part-time, seasonal and full-time employment.

The idea was the brainchild of brother and sister co-founders Stephanie Florio and Alexander Florio. Both studied at York University and then both went to Seneca and studied marketing. After graduating, both Alexander and Stephanie worked in advertising and public relations for four years.

“I was working in a marketing agency and for the first few months loved it but fast forward I didn’t enjoy it at all,” says Alexander, who then ended up spending a lot of time looking for another job.

He became frustrated but that’s when the idea for Swob was born and the duo has never looked back.

They met with students and got their feedback - not much was tailored for this demographic in terms of the job hunt process.

“We made it very easy for them . . . We basically eliminated the step of them having to go into the malls with a stack of resumes. We’re making that initial introduction for them,” says Alexander.

*(Birchmount Park Collegiate showing students how to use SWOB. SWOB Instagram)*

Since the app went live on November 1, 670 students have used it.

It’s free for students and Swob generates its revenue from companies who post jobs on the app. To date, its clients include McDonald's, Tim Hortons, Pizzaville, The Keg, Kelsey’s, Paramount Fine Foods, and M&M Food Markets.

“Students that are looking for jobs when they download the app they answer a few simple questions and create a profile and from there they select how far they want to travel depending on their location and then they can select what industry they would want to be in and what they’re looking for,” says Alexander. “So whether it be full-time, part-time. And they can select the industry - retail, restaurant, customer service. From there, jobs will start to appear.

“It’s the Tinder (dating app) for jobs. If a job appears and they don’t like it, they swipe left and never see the job again. Swipe right if do like the job and then they can apply.”

For employers, they are able to experience the benefits of securely filtering through the best possible candidates, safely and efficiently.

For students, it’s a way to look for part-time, full-time and seasonal positions.

“As of right now, we’re only available in Toronto in the GTA area but that’s just because we’re a startup right now. But slowly, slowly we want to expand nationally all across Canada for sure,” says Stephanie.

She says the service is only live now on the App Store but early next year it will get the app for Google Play for androids.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: November 30, 2017